DECEMBER 2024

As we continue through the holidays, our December featured champagnes take you to the village of Vandieres for an up-close and personal experience with Famille Delouvin. This month, meet winemaker Geoffrey Delouvin and enjoy a gifted bottle from us, from the collection, making this month a 3-bottle box!

When you visit, Geoff is always eager to show you the vineyards. While standing amongst the vines you can see why; a steep amphitheater with a variety of elevations and exposures are revealed before you, while the Marne River snakes ever so close along the edge of the village. Not far from the vines lies Famille Delouvin. It is an older facility, adorned with murals painted by his mother and grandmother, with low ceilings and doorways that lead to the cellar. If you look across the single lane road you will see the construction of a new facility set to be open soon designed by Geoff himself.

As we are led through the cellars, we see everything precisely in its place - brightly colored hoses, a large pneumatic press and rows of tanks and barrels. These hold the stocks from the plots that Geoff, and ten previous generations before him, tended. He vinifies each of his vineyards separately, allowing him to have a wide range of winemaking possibilities. Each year he makes single vineyard wines as well as blends that feature plots from multiple years. From his barrels, each spring crafts something very special; the ‘Meunier Perpetuel.’ This is a reserve blend that was started by his father in 1992. At the end of each harvest a small portion of the best wines are added to a large tank and each spring part of that blend is drawn out and bottled as a perpetual reserve. The one we are tasting now has wines from 1992 all the way through 2019. It offers so much in the way of complexity and vintage character while maintaining its freshness and drinkability, making it the perfect champagne to gift our members this month!

Geoffrey is an amazing winemaker. He takes the best from his past and adds his own know-how and flair to create something that feels new and exciting. His wines are unique and not one tastes like the others. They each have an individual voice, a signature taste and a special story to tell.